


Keith Genuary Day 13: Hunk

by sunshinehime



Series: Keith's Gen-Uary Event 2019 [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Galaxy Garrison, Gen, Hunk & Keith (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Insomnia, Post Season 7, cooking with hunk and keith, keith - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 16:32:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17410346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshinehime/pseuds/sunshinehime
Summary: Not being able to sleep at night has its perks. Such as Keith and Hunk getting to bake delicious sweets in the Galaxy Garrison's kitchen at two in the morning.





	Keith Genuary Day 13: Hunk

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to wish my precious baby boy cinnamon roll a very Happy Birthday!

Keith has always struggled with insomnia, his symptoms worsening since for several years he’s been surrounded by space with no discernible day and night cycles, as well as having to be on constant high alert for any surprise attacks.

Despite being on Earth again, it flares up badly due in no small part to the Galran invasion and resulting aftermath. He finds himself roaming the Galaxy Garrison late at night to catalog exits, major locations, and hallways in order to ease the paranoia that keeps him from sleep.

One night he wanders as usual and hears muffled banging coming from one of the rooms. He immediately grips his Mamoran blade’s hilt and softens his footsteps, creeping toward the source of the noise, which is--

\--the  _kitchen_?

Keith peers around the doorway and spots a familiar face puttering around in his uniform, sans the top which is hanging off a nearby chair. He’s balancing a square pan in each hand, then sliding both into the oven with practiced ease. “ _Hunk_?”

Said man jumps two feet in the air with a yelp. Good thing Keith waited until after the stuff was put away. “Oh thank goodness, it’s just you Keith.” Hunk is clutching his chest and he feels a pang of guilt at startling his friend so badly.

“Sorry about that. I was wandering around when I heard some loud noises coming from here.” He shuffles around a bit, an onset of discomfort washing over him. “I...um, I can leave now so. I’ll just go ahead and--”

“Wait!” Keith is startled in place. “You can stay, it’s no problem really. “I-I’d actually prefer the company, since I still have to wait for my muffins to finish baking.” Hunk comes around and sits on the chair with his jacket, then pats the chair next to him. A moment of hesitation before Keith takes the offered seat.

“So, you’re probably wondering why I’m baking at like two in the morning.” Hunk speaks unprompted and Keith is grateful. The silence outside the kitchen is thick and oppressive and he’s terrible at conversation starters.

“I’ve been a bit antsy lately, with all this crazy stuff going on. I mean, when is there ever not crazy stuff going with us but still.” Hunk exhales. “It’s really hard to sleep sometimes and my head always feels like it’s buzzing. So one night I found myself in here and started messing around with ingredients, like when I was back in the Castle. It, uh, calms me down a little. Silly, huh?”

Keith sighs and tilts his head up, his gaze on the ceiling as he thinks. “It’s not. I always had trouble sleeping. When I still a cadet I used to sneak out sometimes and take a hoverbike through the desert. And in the Castle the training room was my go to place. I--” He stops, clamming up. His nerves threaten to overwhelm him and he has to take a deep breath before continuing. It seems asking for favors is still difficult for him, even after all this time.

To Hunk’s credit, he waits patiently with nothing more than a gentle look, until Keith gathers himself and looks back at Hunk. “I was, was wondering, if...I um...could maybe, join you? B-baking with you I mean. And if you’d rather not that’s fine too I--”

Hunk beams, his brown eyes lighting with excitement. “Yeah, sure of course you can! How about tomorrow night? Well it’s technically tomorrow early morning, but yeah. Meanwhile, you can help me polish off these muffins once they’re done.” Keith can’t help but let Hunk’s enthusiasm bubble in his own stomach and he responds with a wide grin.

* * *

“So the key to good texture in any cake is to combine the dry and wet mixes in separate bowls. Then, you mix the buttermilk and dry mix into the wet mixture, a bit at a time.” He demonstrates this by alternating the flour mixture and buttermilk into the wet bowl, taking care to stir thoroughly each time. “Now you try.”

Keith takes the bowl and milk container from Hunk and mixes the rest himself, careful to do it in small batches as Hunk did. “Nicely done. Now mix the vanilla in -- awesome -- and then we’re just gonna pour everything into these two pans.” Afterwards, Keith puts everything in the oven and breathes out, satisfied with his progress. Hunk is too, judging by the huge smile on his face. “You did great, never would have thought that was your first time baking.”

Keith smiles back. “Yeah, I only helped my dad bake a little when I was a kid. He did most of the legwork.” Mouth watering sights and scents of brownies, cookies, and a beautiful rainbow cake flash through his mind. “Thanks, for being so patient with me.”

“No problem at all. Now let’s work on that frosting.” Keith nods, then swallows, another question forming in his head. He pushes forward, reminding himself that Hunk is warm and welcoming, that he enjoys their time together too. That Keith isn’t just being tolerated, that he isn’t a burden.

“So um, Hunk?” Hunk hums softly as he gather the ingredients for chocolate frosting. “I uh. Could, could we maybe do cookies next time? Like S-snickerdoodles or something?” Hunk pauses in his work and takes a few steps, stopping directly in front of a wide-eyed Keith. He scoops him up in a bear hug, which Keith relaxes into once the shock fades.

“You betcha buddy!”

**Author's Note:**

> As you can probably tell, I love baking and talking about baking things. This will crop up in another one of my entries of course.


End file.
